Battle of Ajnadayn

The Battle of Ajnadayn was fought in July-August 634 during the Muslim conquest of the Levant. The Muslim victory over the Byzantine army led to the Rashidun Caliphate's annexation of southern Syria and Palestine.

Background
In mid-July 634, the Syrian town of Bosra fell to the Muslim army of Khalid ibn al-Walid and his reinforcements. The Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who was in Emesa, responded by sending his brother Theodore and his Armenian general Vardan south towards Ajnadayn, 25 miles southeast of Jerusalem, where they began to gather a large army. The burgeoning Rashidun army thus met their Byzantine opponents at battle at Ajnadayn.

Battle
Both armies formed up in extended lines with their camps in the rear, and their armies were divided into three divisions with cavalry flank guards. Before the start of the battle, a Christian bishop attempted to negotiate a Muslim withdrawal, but Khalid ibn al-Walid responded him with the traditional choice: conversion to Islam, payment of the jizya tax, or death in battle. The Byzantine auxiliary missile units began the battle by raining arrows and stones on the Muslims, and the Muslims were unable to respond to the Byzantines' showers. However, the Muslim warrior Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah marched directly into the battle with a Roman shield and shouted his war cry, leading his entourage of champions to slay several Roman elite warriors and two generals. The Rashidun army then attacked the Byzantines in a slogging match with little maneuver, and the battle lasted until nightfall. The next day, Vardan offered a parley with the goal of ambushing the Rashiduns, but his plan failed and he was instead killed by Jarrah. The Arabs then attacked the Byzantines again, and Khalid deployed his 4,000-strong reserve to the center, drawing wedges through the Byzantine army and leading to the collapse of the Byzantine center. After the defeat, Heraclius sent Theodore back to Constantinople in disgrace, and the remnants of the Byzantine army and the local Roman population fled to the walled cities. Heraclius then retreated further north to Antioch, and the Arabs began to march on Damascus a week later.